Controversial new copyright laws have been approved by members of the European Parliament.The legislation had been changed since July when the first version of the copyright directive was voted down. Critics say it remains problematic.

Phil Sherrell, head of media, entertainment and sports at law firm Bird & Bird said: "Rights holders will be delighted as the directive provides them with additional rights and should strengthen their ability to negotiate royalty payments from online platforms that use their work."

But, he added: "The devil remains in the detail; the next few months will see the EU Council get the directive into final form for it to be passed into law - potentially before Brexit - and there remain opportunities for those disappointed by today's vote to try to alter the drafting."

As always plenty of talk about protecting the rights of middle-man non content creators and little in the way of reform for overbroad copyright time frames, greed knows no bounds it seems.